Crime in the city of St. Louis went up from 2014 to 2015, driven by a nearly 8 percent spike in crimes against persons.

"One hundred and eighty-eight people lost their lives to senseless and destructive violence the city of St. Louis in the past year," said St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. "Overall crime was up 2 percent over the previous year. None of these deaths were warranted, and neither of those numbers are acceptable."

Every individual crime except for burglaries, vehicle thefts and rape was up year over year, though a quarter of the increase in arsons came from a series of church fires in October. Aggravated assaults with a gun — which St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson calls an unsuccessful homicide — climbed 13 percent.

"Too many guns are on the street. When we arrest people, we don't get the outcomes from the court," Dotson said. "And I'm still perplexed why we're here for over a year, still talking about an armed offender docket, and we haven't gotten one."

Part II crimes — less serious offenses, such as larceny, simple assault and vandalism — were up more than 13 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Dotson noted that over the last 10 years, crime in the city had dropped nearly 50 percent. And he also was keen to point out that the increase in crime slowed later in 2015. Compared to 2014, crime was actually lower in September, October, November and December.

"We've put additional officers, through overtime, into the neighborhoods," he said. "We've re-organized inside the police department to really put all of the enforcement pieces into one silo. What I also realize is that officers are just now catching up from what I call the Ferguson effect. They are back in the neighborhoods, doing the jobs that they do well, focused on the areas and the people that are responsible for the crimes."

Joe Yancey, the executive director of Places for People, which treats individuals with mental illness

"Crime reduction is my number one priority in the city of St. Louis," Slay said. "Until every neighborhood is safe, and every person can work and play in our city without fear of criminals looking to harm them, we have a lot more work to do."

He angrily dismissed the notion that the committee is nothing more than a last-minute response to crime, or that other issues proved more important.

"The press focuses a lot of attention on things like the stadium or minimum wage," Slay said. "Believe me, we spend a lot more time on the other things we talked about in the PIER plan."

"I'm honored to be a part of this," said Kelley, the Downtown STL CEO. "I'm thrilled to have even more people focused on the same thing that I can connect with to see what we can do together. I really do see momentum and positive change taking place."

Many of the names on the list are from familiar organizations with their own crime-fighting programs. But Bruce Franks, of 28 to Life, said the commission forces everyone to compare notes.

"It's like Transformers, right? Like Voltron," he said. "Everything comes together to create one big machine that's going to help fight this."

Slay said the commission's members have been asked to oversee the implementation of his new crime-fighting strategy. They'll likely meet quarterly in public meetings and release annual reports.

Shortly before the St. Louis Board of Aldermen started to debate the city’s portion of a financial package for a new National Football League stadium, Alderman Antonio French, D-21st Ward and Mayor Francis Slay tweeted about a new comprehensive crime plan.

Though crime and the Rams are not logically connected, they have been linked. As St. Louis Public Radio reported last week, Alderman French voted to send the financing bill out of committee after an amendment was attached that provided a multi-faceted minority inclusion plan. And he said, "I am taking the mayor’s chief of staff at her word that we will complete our negotiations on a comprehensive [crime] plan before the final vote," French said.

St. Louis is nearly ready to be awarded a nearly $1 million, three-year violence prevention grant for the near north side. To receive the money, the Board of Aldermen just have to approve the measure.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Justice totals $999,858.60 and is known as the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program. It focuses on a neighborhood with a “concentration of crime hot spots.” The proposal under consideration by the Board of Aldermentargets Carr Square and Columbus Square, which have seen four homicides in the past two years, according to police data.